Sweet, Silent, Surprising Love
by Cara Matarazzo
Summary: This short story is about Drake, a boy who is torn between keeping a promise and breaking it, and Luna, a pretty girl that Drake is in love with. They become closer in this, but you must read the continued version not yet published to find out.


_Sweet, Silent, Surprising Love_

By Cara Matarazzo

1

Drake had always been silent. He never spoke to anyone or anything. He would only, _only_, converse with words on paper. Never his own words from his own mouth sadly. Drake was brought to several psychiatrists and a few doctors. The psychiatrists were certain that he definitely suffered from some sort of depression. Depression was his best bet. It had stalked him his whole life. The doctors were a bit unsure about his physical needs. His vocal chords worked perfectly fine. Drake had just chosen not to speak. Actually, he had not always been silent. In fact...he had spoken at one point. When he was with his brother and sister in the orphanage. He was separated from them at age twelve and got adopted at age thirteen. A big problem for Drakes new parents though, was that when you adopted older children, you also adopted their problems. His "parents" struggled to reach out to him because of his muteness. They felt somewhat...helpless to the issue at hand.

Drake's story is what a common orphan sometimes can go through. It goes like this. His mother, Delilah, got pregnant at an early age of sixteen. Not knowing what to do, she let the baby live instead of aborting it like most teen moms would do. Once the child was born, she quickly named it and put him in a basket with a note in it. The note read his new name, and a little letter saying to find Drake a good home. Delilah left the baby in the basket on the doorstep of the orphanage. Now you wonder, what happened to the father? He ran off after he found out she was pregnant to go live in Nevada. Delilah was devastated for the loss of her boyfriend, and the letting of her beautiful baby boy so much, she committed the worst crime of all..._suicide._

When Drake found out about this tragedy, he spiraled into an even worse depression. Another reason for staying silent was his explanation. Now though, at age sixteen, he felt conflicted. A beautiful girl named Luna had talked to him. She had expected no reply, but still chatted along busily like she would to anyone else. Drake liked her company, maybe even _loved_ it a bit. The sad part though was that now, when he had the slightest feeling to actually talk to Luna, he couldn't. Physically, he was able. Psychologically, he was not. His brain did not want him to speak. It was an oath, in a way, that he had made to his brother and sister. When he was reunited with his brother and sister, he would speak again. Slowly, Luna was becoming more and more a vital part of his life, too much to hold back...

Luna sat by Drake, lightly speaking to him, trying to make the mood happy. She brushed her fingers across the back of his neck gently. He glanced at her in brief alarm crossing his face. He was afraid of being too close to someone, because of his silence. Luna answered that with a small, flirtatious, look. Batting her eyelashes ever so sweetly, she spoke in a honeyed tone. "Drakeeee...there's this get together tonight...it's only a few friends...would you want to go?" He shook his head politely. Even though he kind of wanted to go, another part of him didn't. What would he do anyway? Drake couldn't talk anyway... so what's the point of socializing at some get together?

"Hmmm...I guess it would be kind of hard to socialize. You and I could always pass notes." Luna smiled. Her light pink lips were a perfect cupid's bow. Hey eyes were light brown, and her hair was a mixture of all sorts of colors. The profound color was brown. The there were gold's, coppers, and bronzes that highlighted her wild mermaid hair. Luna was a beautiful girl, yet her beauty overlooked by so many men. Guys in the high school were used to superficial, vain girls that were pampered up to look like Barbie clones. In a way, Drake had thought, it was good because he had her all to himself. A slight tug pulled at the corner of his mouth, he dismissed the smile though. Luna may start to wonder. He turned her attention back to her.

He looked her up and down, and she smiled, shy now, at him. He smiled back, flashing the rare grin Drake only gave to her. The smile was, like a present, because of its value to Luna. She too, had feelings for Drake. Of course, the only little way she showed it was her flirting every once in a while. He was too dense to figure that out. Drake pointed at his open mouth. Luna noticed and asked him, concerned; "You hungry? We have pizza in the kitchen. I could go get it if you want." He shook his head in frustration, and eventually pulled out a little notebook with a small pencil. He wrote out the words; "I'M GOING TO TRY TO TALK. DON'T LAUGH. THIS MIGHT BE DIFFICULT."

It took all of Drakes courage to do this, since he hadn't really planned it and he kind of made an oath to his brother and sister. None of that mattered now. He couldn't take it any longer; "Hhhey Luna." He stuttered out, his voice shaky from a mixture of nervousness and fear. Drake felt his mouth with his hand, he was actually speaking. Luna couldn't believe it much either because she had her mouth agape into a big "O". "Oh Drake, you spoke...to me...I almost feel... honored. How long has it been?" She questioned but didn't press too much. Luna had given him a choice. Drake moved his lips to form the sounds he had almost forgotten; "Tthree years."


End file.
